Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary-General, Francis Atwoli's past remarks that Deputy President William Ruto will not make it to the ballot in the 2022 General Election have come back to haunt him.
Following the withdrawal and downgrade of Ruto's security, many Kenyans have come out to condemn the move, saying it puts his life in jeopardy.
Among the many leaders who have so far castigated the move is Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri. He, on Friday, August 27 took a swipe at Atwoli, claiming that withdrawal of the DP's security is in line with a wider plan of which the trade unionist once spoke about, animatedly vowing that Ruto won't make it to the ballot in 2022.
The outspoken lawmaker said he believes Atwoli had a hand in the withdrawal of Ruto's elite security detail, and that he must be held accountable incase anything happens to the DP due to his past comments.
"These are not new things to us because we are following a statement from Atwoli. Atwoli is getting closer to achieving his goal that the Deputy President won't make it to the ballot. So Atwoli has progressed and the withdrawal of the police is part of the plan for hism to achieve his agenda. Atwoli must answer this, either today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow," Nginjiri stated.
In April 2019, Atwoli stated that, " William Ruto’s name will not be on the ballot paper come 2022; you can take that to the bank!"
However, he later came out to clarify that his statement did not wish death to the second in command, after he came under fire from Ruto allies who decoded the statement to mean harm on DP.
“While I was in Lamu, I did not say that Ruto will die, no, but I said the referendum is coming and that there will be six slots, mark my words, Kalonzo Musyoka will be among the six but Ruto’s name will not be there” he said.
Perhaps to further backtrack and distance himself from the earlier remarks, Atwoli on Friday, August 27 faulted the move to downgrade Ruto's security detail. He argued the National Police Service should have informed Ruto before making the changes.
"When it comes to the security of any Kenyan, we can't compromise. And I equally don't support what the government did, and if they were to change that security, they would have done it with the knowledge of our DP. We don't want lame excuses being placed on the government because of the security when there are big issues facing this country."
"What they normally should do, is come and discuss with you (beforehand)," he stated, while addressing the media at COTU headquarters.
Already Ruto has written to Inspector General of police Hillary Mutyambai, claiming that his life is in danger and protesting the changes that saw the General Service Unit (GSU) replaced by Administration Police (AP) officers.
Ruto in the letter sent to IG Mutyambai claimed that the new security detail and the change of his personal driver might have been sent to his home with an ulterior motive.
Following the downgrade, a total of 77 GSU officers were withdrawn from Ruto's residence and replaced with 26 security of the Government Buildings Unit (GBU) of the administrative police service.
